The Word of God - A survey of the Bible - Part Eleven - H Sep 23, 2018 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T026_20180923.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Acts 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Today we will look at the introduction of Saul, the one we know as Paul. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday September 23rd 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 11H ‘Men and Brethren, What Shall We Do?’ 1). Acts 7:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. We have seen that Stephen’s short ministry among the Jews in Jerusalem following the events of Pentecost had been orchestrated by the Lord to confront Israel’s religious leaders with the reality of their actions toward Jesus in order to bring them to a point where they would have to choose either repentance regarding those actions, allowing the Christ to return with the accompanying Messianic blessings, or rejection of the King and the Kingdom being re-offered to them. a). And being brought to this point of decision must be seen within the context of a dramatic multiplication of disciples, including many of the priests being obedient to the faith, and a multiplication of great signs and wonders. b). The signs and wonders of course demonstrating through the physical, the spiritual healing available to the nation. c). We might remember how Isaiah described the spiritual condition of the nation at the beginning of his prophecy – Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me;3 The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master's crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.”4 Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. 5 Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment. These verses describe the spiritual state of the nation at the time Isaiah wrote his prophecy and this was the condition the nation continued to be in and was still in as Stephen did great signs and wonders among the people. d). The religious leaders would have known Isaiah’s prophecy and consequently would have known that the spiritual condition he described did not have to continue – contingent upon one thing – Isa 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; 20 But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. If they would be ‘willing and obedient’ then they would ‘eat the good of the land’. And this is exactly what Peter had told a previous audience as he proclaimed the message of the King and His Kingdom to them following Pentecost – Acts 3:9 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. e). If we go back to the verses from Isaiah we can see that he set out repentance to be followed by blessing or rejection to be followed by an intense suffering, ‘You shall be devoured by the sword’ – this being something ‘the mouth of the Lord has spoken’ taking us back to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. f). And as we will recall from our previous weeks of study this is the self-same pattern, rejection followed by suffering, that Stephen had laid before the council through the types of Joseph and Moses. 2). Now as we had seen last time the reaction of the religious leaders to Stephen’s Spirit filled message was rejection – Acts 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. The action of the religious leaders here, although in complete accord with the scriptures, produced one of the most significant moments in human history as it ushered in the final phase of the outworking of God’s eternal purpose, also condemning Israel to be the recipients of unspeakable horrors of which the worst is yet to come. a). Horrors entirely consistent with the choices they have made and consistent with the seemingly endless warnings to the nation concerning this, as we have seen in the verses from Isaiah for example. b). Nonetheless, horrors that will bring the nation to the end of itself causing them to cry out to the God of their Fathers and to change their mind concerning Jesus the Christ – Hos 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound. 14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” 6:1 Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. The irony we find in these verses is that having rejected their Messiah the nation then continued to wait for the One who had already been among them, but when the man who comes in his own name appears on the scene yet future, typified in king Jareb, the Assyrian Antichrist, it will be to him they will turn. But as we see from the verses in Hosea, he will have no power to heal the nation. God is the One who has brought affliction upon them because of their actions and God is the only One who can bring healing – And this is what is promised on the 3rd Day. 3). Following Stephen’s death, a young man named Saul is then seen persecuting the church in Jerusalem in an attempt to destroy both the message and the messengers – Acts 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. 4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. The Lord had told His disciples before His ascension that they would be witnesses to Him in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth and we see that the persecution of the church in Jerusalem caused them to be scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles, where they went ‘preaching the word’ – the word concerning the resurrected Christ and His Kingdom, the same word preached by Peter, John, Stephen and the rest. a). But there is one thing we should note concerning this – Acts 11:19 Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. Saul/Paul is the one who God had appointed to be the Apostle to the Gentiles and Paul had to be taught by the Lord concerning the message to be taken out to the nations. This would not have been possible for those scattered in the persecution – at that time the message they preached was still a message exclusively to that generation of eternally saved Jews. b). But before Paul could engage in the ministry to which God had called him there was the matter of him having to change his mind about the One whose Church he was persecuting. And interestingly enough it was Paul’s zeal for the destruction of the Church that spread the Word beyond Jerusalem and brought him to the location the Lord had chosen to confront him – Acts 9:1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Here then is the glorified Christ’s encounter with Paul on the road to Damascus and having revealed His identity to Paul, Paul’s response, given why he had gone to Damascus, is quite remarkable, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ – Echoes of the question asked by the assembled multitudes following Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ c). We can only speculate as to how much of the message that began to be preached at Pentecost Paul had heard and how much that impacted what happened on the road, but it is without doubt that he recognized instantly who it was that had stopped him on the road. Acts 9:7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake.” 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. 20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. And here, Saul/Paul, the persecutor of Christ became a type of the nation of Israel, the nation who crucified their King. d). And so, at the very beginning of Paul’s ministry, a ministry that will take the message of the King and His Kingdom to the Gentiles, the Lord having set aside Israel for the 2000 years of this dispensation, hope is revealed once again to His chosen people – Rom 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Israel, as with Paul, has been and will remain blind to the Christ throughout the full 2 days, 2000 years of the dispensation allotted to them, but on the 3rd Day their blindness will be taken away and immediately they will preach the Christ, that He is the Son of God to the Gentile nations fulfilling their calling to be God’s witnesses to the end of the earth. e). In Paul’s ministry then is a foreshadowing of Israel’s national ministry during the Millennial Kingdom. f). Now, if we go back to the account of Paul in Damascus we can see that having been filled with the Holy Spirit in accordance with Joel’s prophecy, and having been baptized he then spent ‘some days’ with the disciples in Damascus and immediately preached the Christ, that He is the Son of God in the synagogues there. g). Paul having sat at the feet of Gamaliel the foremost Bible teacher of the day would have had a thorough grasp of the OT scriptures, but his grasp would have been of the letter rather than the Spirit – but once Paul’s eyes were opened it would have been an easy thing for him to see Jesus the Christ in those same scriptures as he moved beyond the letters on the page to the spiritual truth contained in them, making it a simple thing for him to show from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. h). But, Paul’s message at this time could only be to the Jews, just as those scattered after Stephen’s death, because it was solely a message concerning the re-offer of the Kingdom to Israel. The message that Paul would take to the Gentiles had not been given to him yet. i). And Paul’s experience as he waited in Damascus and that which it foreshadows for Israel has its parallel with the experience of the disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of the Lord’s resurrection – Luke 24:31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” i). As we might imagine, to see and hear the man who sought to stamp out any mention of the name of Jesus now proclaiming that this same Jesus is the Christ would have been unsettling for the Jews in Damascus – Acts 9:20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. 23 Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. 24 But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. 25 Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. We can see from these verses that Saul ‘confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus proving that this Jesus is the Christ’ – and we can see that the religious leaders of the synagogues in Damascus were no different than those in Jerusalem. Rather than accepting the truth from the scriptures presented by the man who had previously tried to destroy this message ‘the Jews plotted to kill him’. 4). Acts 9:26 And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28 So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. 29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. 30 When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. So, Saul escaped from Damascus and went to Jerusalem eventually being accepted by the disciples there. But Jerusalem was not the place where the Lord wanted Saul to be and nor was the re-offer of the Kingdom to Israel the ministry God had for him and so as a result of his disputes with the Hellenists they plotted to kill him, and he was sent to Tarsus. a). Let’s leave Saul/Paul in Tarsus for a moment and look how God began to prepare the way for Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles through Peter’s encounter with Cornelius – Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” 4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” Cornelius is a centurion of the Italian Regiment, he is an Italian, a Gentile, and as such would be considered the lowest of the low from a Jewish perspective and therefore not a person with whom a Jew would keep company. b). But God had always intended that the Gentiles would be grafted into the promises to Abraham and would be the recipients of the Kingdom of the Heavens rejected by Israel through the finished work of the Christ at Calvary. c). And so, as God prepared Paul to be the Apostle to the Gentiles He also prepared Peter and the other apostles for Paul’s ministry. And this preparation began on a rooftop in Joppa – Acts 10:9 The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. The lesson taught to Peter through the unclean animals in his trance is summed up clearly for us in v15 – ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common’ – Acts 10:17 Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate. It is immediately following the lesson concerning that which God had cleansed that the men from Cornelius arrive to take Peter to a Gentile’s house. And the lesson concerning the unclean animals is easily transferable – Peter must not regard Gentiles as unclean if God has cleansed them. d). Acts10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him…………44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, 47 “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. 11: 1 Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, 3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!” 4 But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning………….15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” And so, the stage was set for Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles and the focus was shifting away from the Kingdom of the Heavens being offered to Israel to the Kingdom of the Heavens being offered to eternally saved Gentiles. e). Paul’s ministry throughout what remained of the time covered by the Book of Acts was always to offer the Kingdom of the Heavens to the Jew first and when that offer was rejected to then take it to the Gentile – Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting [Lit. age lasting] life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. Beyond about 62AD when the Book of Acts ended and the generation of eternally saved Jews from before the crucifixion were disappearing from the scene the message was no longer to the Jew first, but to the Gentile. f). Any Jew not eternally saved before the cross could then only be saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ in the same way as any Gentile and once that had happened, whether Jew or Gentile, each became part of the one new man in Christ, no longer a Jew or a Gentile. And it was to the one new man in Christ, the Church, that the offer of rulership with Christ over the Gentile nations of the earth from the heavenly realm of the Kingdom in the place of Satan and his angels was made and continues to be made, even in our hearing this morning. g). And so, returning to the Book of Acts to close for today, God had prepared the way for Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles through Peter’s encounter with Cornelius and God was also to prepare Paul to be that minister. But this will have to wait until next time – If the Lord is willing. The Word of God - A survey of the Bible - Part Eleven - H Sep 23, 2018 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T026_20180923.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Acts 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Today we will look at the introduction of Saul, the one we know as Paul. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday September 23rd 2018 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Part 11H ‘Men and Brethren, What Shall We Do?’ 1). Acts 7:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them.7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. We have seen that Stephen’s short ministry among the Jews in Jerusalem following the events of Pentecost had been orchestrated by the Lord to confront Israel’s religious leaders with the reality of their actions toward Jesus in order to bring them to a point where they would have to choose either repentance regarding those actions, allowing the Christ to return with the accompanying Messianic blessings, or rejection of the King and the Kingdom being re-offered to them. a). And being brought to this point of decision must be seen within the context of a dramatic multiplication of disciples, including many of the priests being obedient to the faith, and a multiplication of great signs and wonders. b). The signs and wonders of course demonstrating through the physical, the spiritual healing available to the nation. c). We might remember how Isaiah described the spiritual condition of the nation at the beginning of his prophecy – Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me;3 The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master's crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.”4 Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. 5 Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment. These verses describe the spiritual state of the nation at the time Isaiah wrote his prophecy and this was the condition the nation continued to be in and was still in as Stephen did great signs and wonders among the people. d). The religious leaders would have known Isaiah’s prophecy and consequently would have known that the spiritual condition he described did not have to continue – contingent upon one thing – Isa 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; 20 But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. If they would be ‘willing and obedient’ then they would ‘eat the good of the land’. And this is exactly what Peter had told a previous audience as he proclaimed the message of the King and His Kingdom to them following Pentecost – Acts 3:9 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. e). If we go back to the verses from Isaiah we can see that he set out repentance to be followed by blessing or rejection to be followed by an intense suffering, ‘You shall be devoured by the sword’ – this being something ‘the mouth of the Lord has spoken’ taking us back to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. f). And as we will recall from our previous weeks of study this is the self-same pattern, rejection followed by suffering, that Stephen had laid before the council through the types of Joseph and Moses. 2). Now as we had seen last time the reaction of the religious leaders to Stephen’s Spirit filled message was rejection – Acts 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. The action of the religious leaders here, although in complete accord with the scriptures, produced one of the most significant moments in human history as it ushered in the final phase of the outworking of God’s eternal purpose, also condemning Israel to be the recipients of unspeakable horrors of which the worst is yet to come. a). Horrors entirely consistent with the choices they have made and consistent with the seemingly endless warnings to the nation concerning this, as we have seen in the verses from Isaiah for example. b). Nonetheless, horrors that will bring the nation to the end of itself causing them to cry out to the God of their Fathers and to change their mind concerning Jesus the Christ – Hos 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah saw his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb; Yet he cannot cure you, Nor heal you of your wound. 14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. 15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” 6:1 Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. The irony we find in these verses is that having rejected their Messiah the nation then continued to wait for the One who had already been among them, but when the man who comes in his own name appears on the scene yet future, typified in king Jareb, the Assyrian Antichrist, it will be to him they will turn. But as we see from the verses in Hosea, he will have no power to heal the nation. God is the One who has brought affliction upon them because of their actions and God is the only One who can bring healing – And this is what is promised on the 3rd Day. 3). Following Stephen’s death, a young man named Saul is then seen persecuting the church in Jerusalem in an attempt to destroy both the message and the messengers – Acts 8:1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. 4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. The Lord had told His disciples before His ascension that they would be witnesses to Him in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth and we see that the persecution of the church in Jerusalem caused them to be scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles, where they went ‘preaching the word’ – the word concerning the resurrected Christ and His Kingdom, the same word preached by Peter, John, Stephen and the rest. a). But there is one thing we should note concerning this – Acts 11:19 Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. Saul/Paul is the one who God had appointed to be the Apostle to the Gentiles and Paul had to be taught by the Lord concerning the message to be taken out to the nations. This would not have been possible for those scattered in the persecution – at that time the message they preached was still a message exclusively to that generation of eternally saved Jews. b). But before Paul could engage in the ministry to which God had called him there was the matter of him having to change his mind about the One whose Church he was persecuting. And interestingly enough it was Paul’s zeal for the destruction of the Church that spread the Word beyond Jerusalem and brought him to the location the Lord had chosen to confront him – Acts 9:1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Here then is the glorified Christ’s encounter with Paul on the road to Damascus and having revealed His identity to Paul, Paul’s response, given why he had gone to Damascus, is quite remarkable, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ – Echoes of the question asked by the assembled multitudes following Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ c). We can only speculate as to how much of the message that began to be preached at Pentecost Paul had heard and how much that impacted what happened on the road, but it is without doubt that he recognized instantly who it was that had stopped him on the road. Acts 9:7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”13 Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake.” 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. 20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. And here, Saul/Paul, the persecutor of Christ became a type of the nation of Israel, the nation who crucified their King. d). And so, at the very beginning of Paul’s ministry, a ministry that will take the message of the King and His Kingdom to the Gentiles, the Lord having set aside Israel for the 2000 years of this dispensation, hope is revealed once again to His chosen people – Rom 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Israel, as with Paul, has been and will remain blind to the Christ throughout the full 2 days, 2000 years of the dispensation allotted to them, but on the 3rd Day their blindness will be taken away and immediately they will preach the Christ, that He is the Son of God to the Gentile nations fulfilling their calling to be God’s witnesses to the end of the earth. e). In Paul’s ministry then is a foreshadowing of Israel’s national ministry during the Millennial Kingdom. f). Now, if we go back to the account of Paul in Damascus we can see that having been filled with the Holy Spirit in accordance with Joel’s prophecy, and having been baptized he then spent ‘some days’ with the disciples in Damascus and immediately preached the Christ, that He is the Son of God in the synagogues there. g). Paul having sat at the feet of Gamaliel the foremost Bible teacher of the day would have had a thorough grasp of the OT scriptures, but his grasp would have been of the letter rather than the Spirit – but once Paul’s eyes were opened it would have been an easy thing for him to see Jesus the Christ in those same scriptures as he moved beyond the letters on the page to the spiritual truth contained in them, making it a simple thing for him to show from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. h). But, Paul’s message at this time could only be to the Jews, just as those scattered after Stephen’s death, because it was solely a message concerning the re-offer of the Kingdom to Israel. The message that Paul would take to the Gentiles had not been given to him yet. i). And Paul’s experience as he waited in Damascus and that which it foreshadows for Israel has its parallel with the experience of the disciples on the road to Emmaus on the day of the Lord’s resurrection – Luke 24:31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” i). As we might imagine, to see and hear the man who sought to stamp out any mention of the name of Jesus now proclaiming that this same Jesus is the Christ would have been unsettling for the Jews in Damascus – Acts 9:20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.21 Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?”22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. 23 Now after many days were past, the Jews plotted to kill him. 24 But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. 25 Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. We can see from these verses that Saul ‘confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus proving that this Jesus is the Christ’ – and we can see that the religious leaders of the synagogues in Damascus were no different than those in Jerusalem. Rather than accepting the truth from the scriptures presented by the man who had previously tried to destroy this message ‘the Jews plotted to kill him’. 4). Acts 9:26 And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 28 So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. 29 And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. 30 When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. So, Saul escaped from Damascus and went to Jerusalem eventually being accepted by the disciples there. But Jerusalem was not the place where the Lord wanted Saul to be and nor was the re-offer of the Kingdom to Israel the ministry God had for him and so as a result of his disputes with the Hellenists they plotted to kill him, and he was sent to Tarsus. a). Let’s leave Saul/Paul in Tarsus for a moment and look how God began to prepare the way for Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles through Peter’s encounter with Cornelius – Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” 4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.” Cornelius is a centurion of the Italian Regiment, he is an Italian, a Gentile, and as such would be considered the lowest of the low from a Jewish perspective and therefore not a person with whom a Jew would keep company. b). But God had always intended that the Gentiles would be grafted into the promises to Abraham and would be the recipients of the Kingdom of the Heavens rejected by Israel through the finished work of the Christ at Calvary. c). And so, as God prepared Paul to be the Apostle to the Gentiles He also prepared Peter and the other apostles for Paul’s ministry. And this preparation began on a rooftop in Joppa – Acts 10:9 The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. The lesson taught to Peter through the unclean animals in his trance is summed up clearly for us in v15 – ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common’ – Acts 10:17 Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate. It is immediately following the lesson concerning that which God had cleansed that the men from Cornelius arrive to take Peter to a Gentile’s house. And the lesson concerning the unclean animals is easily transferable – Peter must not regard Gentiles as unclean if God has cleansed them. d). Acts10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him…………44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, 47 “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days. 11: 1 Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2 And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, 3 saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!” 4 But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning………….15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” And so, the stage was set for Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles and the focus was shifting away from the Kingdom of the Heavens being offered to Israel to the Kingdom of the Heavens being offered to eternally saved Gentiles. e). Paul’s ministry throughout what remained of the time covered by the Book of Acts was always to offer the Kingdom of the Heavens to the Jew first and when that offer was rejected to then take it to the Gentile – Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting [Lit. age lasting] life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. Beyond about 62AD when the Book of Acts ended and the generation of eternally saved Jews from before the crucifixion were disappearing from the scene the message was no longer to the Jew first, but to the Gentile. f). Any Jew not eternally saved before the cross could then only be saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ in the same way as any Gentile and once that had happened, whether Jew or Gentile, each became part of the one new man in Christ, no longer a Jew or a Gentile. And it was to the one new man in Christ, the Church, that the offer of rulership with Christ over the Gentile nations of the earth from the heavenly realm of the Kingdom in the place of Satan and his angels was made and continues to be made, even in our hearing this morning. g). And so, returning to the Book of Acts to close for today, God had prepared the way for Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles through Peter’s encounter with Cornelius and God was also to prepare Paul to be that minister. But this will have to wait until next time – If the Lord is willing.